One Spell to Discover what My Enemy is doing Presently

One spell to discover what my enemy is doing presently was the title of one of the spells that Vinculus obtained from Gilbert Norrell via John Childermass [20]. Vinculus then sold it, along with the two spells to make an obstinate man leave London, to Jonathan Strange for seven shillings and sixpence at Monk Gretton. Strange later used this spell while talking to Arabella Woodhope about becoming a magician; it involves drawing complicated gestures on the surface of a mirror, and a mirror which shows the caster's enemy in it will "relay" the image to the caster's mirror [22]. A drawback to this spell is that if no mirrors are presently reflecting the image of the enemy, the spell will not work. This is seen when Norrell tries to spy on Strange, presumably using this spell; Strange was able to evade Norrell's gaze by the simple expedient of turning all the mirrors in the room to the wall .

Frailty, thy name is woman! Mirrors and magic are always entwined like light and dark - here's the double, the bad luck of the mirror cracked, the misty myths of Medusa or Narcissus, fairytales and horror vampires, the devil of vanity, the Sun King's Hall of Mirrors at Versailles or a million fairgrounds and the distorted projection that's never quite reality as we know it.